Customer Reviews

Amphotos Guide to Digital Black and White Printing: Techniques for Creating High Quality Prints

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If you know anything at all about digital imaging, save your money and don't bother with this book. This is a book in which Mr. Schaub tells us such useful things as: "Art and craft are delicately balanced in every stage of creating a black-and-white image. Your goal is to produce images that will touch the viewer and express your artistic vision." He then proceeds to illustrate his "artistic vision" with some pretty lame examples. It seems he spends a lot of time in the woods because many, if not most, of his examples involve various kinds of vegetation. Some of his "improvements" tend to trash a fairly good starting image, though a few of his improvements do, in fact, improve.

On page 57 he informs us that "A digital image is composed of (are you ready for this?) pixels." The rest of the book is pretty much at this level. On page 148, which has the title "Paper For Your Printer," Mr. Schaub tells us that "An inkjet printer creates an image composed of dots that are literally sprayed onto the paper." He then explains that "Matching ink and paper can be a daunting problem," but fails to give us any information that'll help solve the "daunting" problem. Basically, what he suggests is mucking around with paper and ink combinations until you find one you like.

This book is a real shame. It could have been so good and such a help, but it started fizzling on the very first page.

I picked this book up at the library (fortunately I didn't buy it) because I'm interested in printing my black and white images. I was surprised to find that printing isn't addressed until page 147. The section on printing amounted to 10 pages in total, out of 160 pages in the book. The title of the book should be "Black and White Digital Photography" -- the word "Printing" doesn't belong in the title.

At first glance, this appears to be a terrific book for the digital photographer who'd like to try printing in black and white. Unfortunately the author, having been a professional photographer for 25+ years and no doubt has been using Photoshop since the day it was created, assumes that the reader also uses Photoshop 6 or CS. Although he does make a very brief note that there may possibly be other photo editing programs out there, the entire book is Photoshop. Later in the book, the author implies that if the reader is using something other than Photoshop, then it's the reader's responsibility to "interpret" what the author is presenting.

This really doesn't make much sense as the book is obviously directed towards "newer" digital photographers who want to explore black and white. But most of these photographers (having just shelled out a grand for a 6 or 8MP camera and a printer) haven't rushed out and bought Photoshop CS for $700+, rather being content with using low-cost PhotoImpact 11 (closest thing to Photoshop on the market) or Paint Shop Pro X. On the other hand, experienced digital photographers (who most likely use Photoshop 6 or CS) probably wouldn't buy the book because they already know most everything the book presents.

This problem could have been effectively avoided if the author had taken the time to write a simple brief chapter comparing the tools of Photoshop CS, PhotoImpact 11, Paint shop X, et al. Then the reader could easily relate as he/she reads the text.

On the positive side, the book is well organized and presents examples of every software tool used. Although many of the photos are just so-so, there are several that are really outstanding. If the reader can take the time to "interpret" the Photoshop commands that are presented in the book into the software that the reader may be using, then the book is certainly well worth Amazon's $16.47.

To anyone really interested in Digital Black & White Printing, this book will disappoint in two crucial areas. Firstly, the information generated is too superficial and vague to really benefit someone trying to learn and secondly, most of the images displyed are of poor quality. Instead of leaping out at you and making you wish you could have created something equally nice, most of these images leave you feeling that maybe your childhood snapshots were not so bad afterall.

I do not recommend this book to anyone who has more than very basic knowledge of the computerized digital process. In addition, the book contains nice examples but no useful ways to get there on your own. I have purchased the book and read it but did not find it useful. I was disappointed.

This is an excellent "how-to" book for making the transition to digital black-and-white photography. Unlike Photoshop books, it is not so much organized around tools as around the different attributes of a black and white print that the photographer and print maker wishes to control. The book gives a clear explanation, with examples, of each attribute and how to use the tools in Photoshop to control that attribute. I'm an amateur black and white photographer with about 20 years of experience in the darkroom, but I think the book would also be accessible for someone just starting to learn about black and white photography and printing.

I've seen many of the books covering digital black and white photograhy and I think this is one of the best. The approach is straightforward and there are lots of good examples. After a few times browsing through, I found myself working much more creatively with black and white images.

Of course, I've always been a digital photographer, with no film/darkroom experience. Some people who know more about this style may find George's thoughts and information about black and white photography too simple, but for me it was right on the mark.

Regards, David.